"A child's learning is the function more of the characteristics of his classmates than those of the teacher." James Coleman, 1972

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Responding to Meghan Daum's reactionary attack on the Class of 2014 social justice movements

‎"Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral. " — Paulo Freire

LA Times columnist Meghan Daum takes issue with the Class of 2014's nationwide activism to resist and reject neoliberal reactionaries like Christine Lagarde and Condoleezza Rice as their commencement speakers. Her offensive College grads: With speakers as in life, at times you take what you can get accuses student activists of hubris, intolerance, anti-intellectualism, and extreme political correctness. As a proud member of the Class of 2014, and five years Daum's senior, I take issue with both her condescending tone, and her abysmal politics of passivity. Complying with her paper's 150 word limit for letters to the editor, I crafted the following response.

From: "Robert D. Skeels"
Date: May 22, 2014 12:15:46 PDT
To: mdaum@latimescolumnists.com
Cc: opinion@media.ucla.edu, letters@latimes.com
Subject: re: College grads: With speakers as in life, at times you take what you can get

As a member of the UCLA class of 2014, I take exception to Meghan Daum's reactionary Op-Ed regarding commencement speakers. Older and more experienced than Daum, I find her tone of "you could do a whole lot worse" and "take what you can get" paternalistic. From an inappropriate use of scare quotes around adjectives that correctly describe the IMF, to providing political cover for mass murderers like the former Secretary of State, Daum's "be a gracious host" to your oppressors thesis is wrongheaded at best. Let's embrace students who are no longer willing to accept perpetrators of oppression and injustice as speakers. Daum wants us to "sit" and "listen". I say speak truth to power, and continue resisting what the celebrated Professor bell hooks calls "white supremacist capitalist patriarchy". Daum should consider that rather than settling for "you can do worse," true agency starts with "we can do better."

Robert D. Skeels
****@ucla.edu

"Problem posing education does not and cannot serve the interests of the oppressor" — Paulo Freire

Robert D. Skeels is a social justice writer, public education advocate, and immigrant rights activist. He lives, works, writes, and organizes in Los Angeles with his wife and cats. Robert holds a BA in Classical Civilization from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), and is a Juris Doctor candidate at Peoples College of Law (PCL). A US Navy Veteran, he is a proud member of Veterans for Peace. A student of Liberation Theology and Paulo Freire's work, Robert devotes much time towards volunteer work for 12 step, church, homeless advocacy, and grassroots groups. Robert's articles and essays appear in publications including Jacobin, Truthout, CounterPunch, Dissident Voice, Schools Matter, Daily Censored, Regeneración, K12NN, LA Progressive, and The Los Angeles Daily News. In 2013 Robert ran for the LAUSD School Board against a billionaire funded corporate reform candidate, finishing second in a field of five, with over 5,200 votes.